Geneva Conventions 2.0
Charli Carpenter, an Assistant Professor of at the University of Pittsburg's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, has just published a short piece on the Geneva Conventions in the war on terror in The National Interest. Writing at Duck of Minerva, where she's a contributor, Carpenter notes the challenges involved with crossing from academic publishing to writing for a policy audience (or at least, involved with dealing with differing degrees of editorial license). More important, though, is the subject of her paper. In "Geneva 2.0", she sums up many of the basic issues that inform this particular debate, getting right to the heart of the problem when she writes
Anonymous v. State of Israel (June 11, 2008)
The Supreme Court of Israel has upheld the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law (5762-2002), in an opinion that should be of interest from a U.S. perspective in light of its discussion of IHL principles relating to administrative detention. In brief, the Court categorizes “unlawful enemy combatants” as civilians/protected persons for purposes of GCIV, and concludes that the statute complies with constitutional and IHL considerations so long as it is construed to require some showing of individual dangerousness. The interesting question that follows from that is whether mere membership in an organization such as HAMAS or Hezbollah would qualify a person as personally dangerous; on that issue, the Court says the following:
Mapping Lebanon's Vulnerabilities
Remember when geopolitique.com released a map of Hezbollah's telecomms network in Lebanon? Well, another organization, Lebanon-Support, has done one better with its map of Lebanon's vulnerabilities, showing political, confessional, security and deprivation layers in the Lebanese landscape. Worth noting.
H/T to Middle East Strategy at Harvard for reporting it.
Mike Innes
in Resources
|
Post a Comment
| 
Email
| 
Print
Tactical Wall Hugging in Baghdad
In "Baghdad's Teetering Floors," Bryan Finoki writes about new barrier construction in that sunny peaceful spot on the Tigris:
Arar v. Ashcroft (2d Cir. June 30, 2008)
The 2nd Circuit has affirmed dismissal in Arar v. Ashcroft , the civil suit brought by Maher Arar against various US officials based on allegations that the US removed him to Syria in order to be tortured... below I reprint an excerpt summarizing the ruling:
Mike Innes
in Decisions
|
Post a Comment
| Email
| Print
America's non-reciprocation for Afghan affections
What do I mean by "America's non-reciprocation for Afghan affections?" I mean that Afghans like America three times more than Americans like Afghanistan. While I hate combining and comparing results from polls conducted in different countries by different organizations using different methodologies, even a wide margin of error and consideration of context shows a wide gulf between the two countries when it comes to mutual feelings.
Christian Bleuer
in Issues
|
Post a Comment
| Email
| Print
Me on Rubin on Rashid... on Deaf Ears?
In the category of circular book reviews (I know, this is undergraduate short-cutting at its worst, but there's more to the story), from Barnett R. Rubin, on Ahmed Rashid's new book Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of National Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia (Penguin, 2008).
The CTLab Line-Up
Some of you may have noticed CTLab's expanding repertoire of SMEs over the last few weeks. The goal has always been for this blog to be multidisciplinary, and the eclectic band of thinkers now listed as contributors are certainly that. None need introducing here, since all are well known or knowable through their respective blogs and other online activities. But to recap, the Complex Terrain Laboratory's Review weblog is (in addition to yours truly):
Ghosts of Alexander Self-Outs
Updated on Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 22:26 by
Mike Innes
Christian Bleuer, the formerly anonymous author of the Ghosts of Alexander blog, has self-outed. Bleuer writes "I have come to the realization that there is nothing controversial or confrontational about this blog. I therefore have no need to continue with my pseudo-anonymity." A PhD student in the research phase of his degree at The Australian National University’s Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (The Middle East and Central Asia), he states his blog is "about conflict related issues in Afghanistan: politics, culture, society, reconstruction, civil-military relations and insurgency." Other qualifications:
United States v. Benkahla (4th Cir. June 23, 2008)
The Fourth Circuit (in an opinion by Judge Wilkinson, joined by Judges Motz and Duncan) has rejected a series of arguments raised by Sabri Benkahla. Benkahla was associated with the “Virginia Jihad/Virginia Paintball” investigation. He was tried and acquitted of providing services to the Taliban in violation of IEEPA and using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, based on allegations that he attended an LET training camp in Afghanistan (and fired weapons there). After his acquittal, he was
The Constitution Project's Critique of National Security Courts
The Constitution Project’s Liberty & Security Committee, along with the Coalition to Defend Checks and Balances, has published a report critiquing national security court concepts.
Impact of Boumediene on the Hamdan prosecution
SCOTUSBLOG’s Lyle Denniston offers the following update on developments in the Hamdan prosecution, where the parties now are focused on whether Boumediene compels the conclusion that detainees are entitled to constitutional rights beyond just the right to habeas itself. Captain Allred, the judge in Hamdan’s commission proceeding, has given the parties until July 2nd to brief the issue.
Another Human Terrain Operator Killed
Updated on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 16:40 by
Mike Innes
Nicole Suveges was killed in yesterday's Sadr City bombing.
IW: Subduing the Echos of History
Having recently completed Soldiers of Reason- a history of the RAND Corporation by Alex Abella – I was struck by how familiar a story or series of stories from the 50s and 60s so mirrored the problems and approaches being undertaken today in the virtual realm. What follows is not a robust review of Abella's work, but I think these high-points are illustrative:
Neurocognitive Implications of Nation-Building
Perhaps my favorite entirely apolitical blog is The Eide Neurolearning Blog run by the Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide, two physicians who specialize in brain research and the resulting implications for educating children. With great regularity I find information there that either is of use to me professionally or has wider societal importance.
A while back, the Eides posted "The Thinking Spot", which adds to the existing mountain of evidence regarding
Mark Safranski
in Cognition
|
Post a Comment
| Email
| Print
Monumentalising Defeat II
"There is now a growing amount of archaeological literature on 9/11, focusing on the interstices between memory, materiality and the ‘archaeological imagination’. The display in the Intrepid Museum demonstrates at least two aspects of this debate: the musealization of social memory, and the monumentalization of the debris of the past."
Tim Stevens
in Theory
|
Post a Comment
|
4 References
| Email
| Print
Human Terrain, Russian Style
One of the unsung heroes of this corner of the blogosphere, Ghosts of Alexander, has an excellent post on Russian use of social science in their 19th-century expeditions to Turkestan. In Russia's Human Terrain System GOA contrasts the investigations into local cultures by the Russians with the current HTS and social science techniques deployed by the US in Afghanistan. And concludes that ... bah, why trump the man? Read the article instead.
[Cross-posted at Ubiwar]
Mahmoud al-Massad at the Frontline Club
In Recycle, winner of the World Cinema Cinematography Award for documentary at the Sundance Festival 2008, Mahmoud al Massad returned to his hometown of Zarqa in northern Jordan. Zarqa, Jordan's second city and industrial heart is birthplace not only to the Jordanian/Palestinian film-maker, but also to Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Osama bin Laden's "Prince of Al Qaeda in Iraq". On Sunday 15 June 2008, al Massad came to the Frontline Club in London for one of the first screenings of Recycle in the UK, and to discuss the question at the heart of this work: what makes a terrorist?
Tim Stevens
in Arts & Culture
|
Post a Comment
| Email
| Print
An Introduction: The Complex Terrain Network
The CTLab's Review is very much a bloggers' blog, as opposed to the op-ed and think-type pieces in the Notebook blog, or the various other media formats with which we're planning on experimenting. It's built around contributors who are and remain accomplished bloggers in their own rights, the point of it all being that it extends the conceptual tether beyond what CTLab might ordinally attempt as a university-based research unit (which is necessarily broad to begin with). I haven't written about or addressed the idea of the complex terrain network (CT-NET? TCTN?) before. But if one were to
Khadr v. U.S. (D.C. Cir. June 20, 2008)
The D.C. Circuit, in an opinion by Chief Judge Sentelle, has dismissed a petition by Omar Khadr asking the Court to address certain procedural issues relating to Khadr’s war crime trial before a military commission at GTMO. The opinion relies on language in the Military Commissions Act providing that the D.C. Circuit’s jurisdiction in this context comes into play only after a final judgment by the commission that has been approved by the Convening Authority and after all aother MCA appeal options are complete.
The full text follows.
Mike Innes
in Decisions
|
Post a Comment
| Email
| Print